Alone in My Lullaby - FlowerClan Challenge
by Destiny Willowleaf
Summary: Echopaw is a lonely apprentice. Her adopted mother, Lilydapple, died soon after Echopaw had become an apprentice. Now, wil she be able to find peace with herself after another tragedy strikes her heart? (By the way, all of the new Warriors in the Clan are the kits at the end of The Last Hope.)


**My FlowerClan challenge is (finally) here! I really hope you enjoy this story. Also, this takes place in a future ThunderClan, about 18 moons after the Great Battle. Also, when you get to the lullaby, look up Lullaby by Trout Fishing in America.**

_I stared at my mother, Lilydapple. She was covered in scars, and had blood pulsating from her chest, unmoving._

"_No, you can't be dead!" I screamed, burying my face in her tortoiseshell fur._

_My friend Fernpaw padded up to me._

"_I'm sorry," she said. "What's done is done. We can't bring back the dead, even with the power of StarClan."_

_I looked up at my silver-furred friend. "But what can I do now? I've lost everything!"_

_Fernpaw looked to the sky. "StarClan only knows..."_

I woke up from my reoccurring nightmare. It had been a few weeks since the death of Lilydapple, and I still wasn't over it. I shook the dream away, and quickly groomed my gray pelt. After finishing, I padded out of my den. Looking around, I saw Hailkit and Vixenkit running into the nursery, with their mother, Ambercloud, waiting for them.

"Hailkit! Vixenkit! Come here please!" I heard her call.

Hailkit turned around. "Coming!" Her fluffy pale gray pelt bounced with her as she scrambled over to her mother.

"Wait for me!" Vixenkit cried, trying to follow her energetic sister. Her fluffy red pelt caught dirt and grass from the ground.

Once the kits had gotten to their mother, I looked over to the Highrock.

From underneath the Highrock, I saw Snowclaw and Dewfoot talking with each other.

Seedleaf padded up to me from behind. "You know that today's the day," she murmured into my ear.

I spun around. "Oh, hi Seedleaf," I mewed.

She smiled slightly. "I know that you still miss Lilydapple. I do too," she replied.

I relaxed a bit, and then heard my mentor, Ivypool, call me.

"Echopaw! Come on! We're going to be doing your assessment!" she called.

"Okay!" I replied, jogging towards my mentor.

In the forest, I was met with Ivypool and Cherryheart.

"I will be following you for the first half of this assessment. Try to catch at least two mice and a vole. In the second half, you will work with Cherryheart to catch a larger piece of prey, like a rabbit. Understand?" she meowed.

I nodded.

"Go," Ivypool said.

I went off. Not too long after I left my mentor, I came upon a mouse, nibbling at some beechnuts. Crouching down, I started to stalk the mouse. In my excitement to catch it, I shook my tail, and disturbed some branches. The mouse looked up, but thankfully didn't see me. Quietly sighing, I lept out and pounced on my prey.

I thanked StarClan for its life, and buried it near a tree. Soon after, I found two more mice.

I left my location, and then I saw a sparrow. I crouched down, but it had already taken off.

"Mouse dung," I muttered.

Just then, Ivypool came up to me.

"We are going to start the second half of your assessment," she said.

Cherryheart's head popped out of the bushes. "Is it my time already?"

Ivypool nodded. "Remember, try to catch a rabbit."

I turned to Cherryheart, who was waiting for something.

"You're supposed to tell me how to help, remember?" Cherryheart mewed.  
"Oh, right!" I replied.

Scenting the air, a faint whiff of rabbit came from the WindClan border. Signaling Cherryheart, the two of of stalked through the undergrowth to find a rabbit on the border between WindClan and ThunderClan.

Cherryheart slapped her tail over my mouth, and looked like she was straining her ears for something.

"What is it?" I whispered through a mouthful of fur.

"WindClan patrol," Cherryheart hissed. "Stay here. If it's a hunting patrol, we stay down until they have left. If it looks like a border patrol, we will catch the rabbit. Got it?" she told me.

I nodded, and stayed low to the ground as we waited.

"I'll get the rabbit before you do!" I heard a cat speak. The voice sounded like a she-cat's. I snapped my focus back to the rabbit.

"No way!" Another voice told me that it was a hunting patrol, and this one sounded like a tom.

Two cats came over a ridge, and were running towards the rabbit. It had shifted more on to our side, and was soon fully on our part of territory.

Cherryheart tensed, and it was easy to see why.

"Got it!" the she-cat called, pouncing on the rabbit.

She ended up on our side of the border, which caused Cherryheart to walk out of the bush.

"Who are you?" she hissed.

The she-cat looked scared. "I-I'm Mintpaw."

Cherryheart snorted. "You're on our side of the border."

Mintpaw looked scared, and scampered back to her own side. She tried to carry the rabbit, but Cherryheart held it.

"You get to go back, but you don't get to keep the prey."

The tom spoke up. "Why?"

Cherryheart quickly shifted her attention to him. "Your friend here hunted a rabbit and ended up on ThunderClan land."

I padded out of the bush. "We could always catch another one," I stammered.

The rest of the WindClan hunting patrol came.

"Why is Mintpaw so scared right now?" A black tom asked the smaller gray one.

"The ThunderClan warrior took her prey."

The black tom looked at Cherryheart. "Why did you take her prey?"

I spoke up. "Mintpaw was hunting a rabbit and it was originally on the border between our Clans but then it came over to ours and Mintpaw caught it anyway so Cherryheart took it from her!" I exclaimed without breathing.

A white she-cat stared at me. "You're one to talk."

I shrunk down.

Cherryheart scowled at me. "Stop being so useless!" she meowed at me, harshly cuffing my ear.

Mintpaw looked scared. "It was only my third time hunting."

"I don't care!" Cherryheart snarled. "Even Echopaw could do better than that, and she is one of the weakest apprentices in the Clan!"

Fearing more rudeness from Cherryheart, I ran back to camp to alert ThnderClan.

I raced back to camp.

"Where is Cherryheart?" Molewhisker asked.

Before I could reply, I was bombarded with questions.

"Why are you here?" "Where is your mentor?" "Is there trouble?"

"STOP!" I yowled. Everyone quieted down.

"Cherryheart and I met a hunting patrol at the WindClan border, as an apprentice of theirs was stalking a rabbit on our territory," I mewed.

Squirrelflight shot to full attention. "I need three volunteers to help us, if it comes to a fight," she shouted. Seedleaf, Molewhisker, and Snowclaw stepped up.

"Snowclaw, I don't want you to come. I would like a more experienced warrior."

Then, Blossomfall stepped forward. "You'll do."

The patrol left camp, and I padded off towards the apprentice den to rest.

After the patrol left, I heard my mentor walk into the den.

"Are you okay, Echopaw?" she asked.

I sighed. "Not really. When Cherryheart and I were hunting, she seemed more tensed and on edge. She was also yelling at one of the WindClan apprentices."

Ivypool looked straight into my eyes, and sighed. "Maybe it's just because of what today is." she mewed.

I brought myself into a sitting position. "What's today?"

"Today was the day, one year ago, when Cherryheart lost her first love."

I was surprised. "Cherryheart was once in love?"

"Yes," Ivypool replied. "It was three moons after the Great Battle that they actually met. He came into camp with many other cats, but she was in love with him. They were as close as two cats could be that were not related or even mates. But on day their secret slipped out, and they split up."

I felt bad for Cherryheart. Losing your mate-to-be? Harsh.

Soon, I heard the patrol come back to camp.

I ran outside, and saw Seefleaf being carried by Blossomfall and Molewhisker, with Cherryheart in the rear.

My heart fell like a stone.

Seedleaf had died.

That night, I stayed up for another vigil, this time grieving over my second mother's death.

Fernpaw was with me. "You know you can't stay up too much."

I sighed. "I know," I mewed. Then I curled up to sleep.

In my dreams, Lilydapple came up to me.

"Momma?" I asked.

She nodded. "I just want you to know that no matter where I may be, I will always love you." Then she started to sing a lullaby that I remembered from when I first joined.

"Close your eyes, and I'll sing you a song. Lullaby, sleep till morning comes. The cricket's serenade, echos softly through the night," Lilydapple sang with me.

By the time we had reached the chorus, I had fallen asleep. The song was still fresh in my mind, and I tried to quietly hum along in my sleep.

Fernpaw was shaking me awake.

"Echopaw?" she meowed into my ear.

I shook her away, and said, "I'm awake."

"Good, because there's a cat outside that wants to see you."

I sat up. "Who?"

"He calls himself Ghost."

I bolted out of the den to look at Ghost.

He weakly looked over to me. "Is that you, Soul?"

I smiled. "It is!"

He smiled. "I knew I could find you!"

Bramblestar came out of his den. "What is the meaning of this?" he snarled.

I looked at him. "This is my long-lost brother, Ghost."

Later tat day, I received my warrior name, Echolily. Ghost became Mistpaw, and was trained by Blossomfall.

I guess I did find peace after all.


End file.
